Emotional Triggers for a Higher Email CTR

On Emails and Emotions: The Psychological Triggers that Boost Your Click-Through Rate

Attracting digital shoppers is tricky. Attention alone is a culprit — the average attention span lasts only eight seconds, which means your marketing content has to work quickly. Also, unlike browsing shops in malls, it is incredibly easy to filter products and find the exact item they need. And they do it all from the comfort of their couch. Buyers are spoilt for choice and less likely to be loyal to one brand.

To overcome these hurdles, digital marketers can look to the marketers of old to capture buyers’ attention and make a sale: emotional triggers.

No matter how long the attention span is or how abundant the choices are, digital shoppers are all hardwired to act on their emotions. In effect, each purchase is an emotional response, and you need a trigger that would influence their decision. Here are the four most effective emotional triggers you can incorporate into your campaign.

Gain: Offer a Competitive Edge

It’s always a good feeling to gain something, whether it’s the car that you’ve always dreamed of or the cheesecake you’ve been craving since this morning. So a powerful way to get a digital consumer to take action is to offer something they could gain. There should always be a positive answer when the customer asks, “What will I gain if I click on this link?”

For B2C, it could be a special discount or a promo. It could be a sneak peek into your latest footwear collection or behind-the-scenes footage for your latest app. For B2B, you could also offer special discounts and promos but perhaps add free subscription to tailored blogs, or a slot for an exclusive webinar.

Whatever the gain you offer is, make sure that email recipients can recognize them immediately, so there won’t be any confusion as confusion deters actions.

Logic: Help Them Justify The Action

The rational mind searches for explanations and justifications in anything people do. As such, logic is a powerful trigger in generating conversions. Your email copy should spell out why readers need to take. Not only does it clear out the justification, but it also associates your brand with practicality and cost-effectiveness.

For instance, you can cite market research that supports your actions (n% of households trust this solution, the top n companies invest in this solution, this solution improves efficiency by n%, etc.). You can also use comparisons and expert opinions to further encourage action.

Fear: Bank on Business FOMO

This doesn’t mean drastically scary scenarios that exaggerate data and incite unnecessary panic. Triggering fear, in the context of email marketing, means you show recipients what they would miss out on if they don’t click on the button — an unwanted event might occur if they join in now.

For instance, if a B2C shopper fails to take action, they might miss out on fashion trends or be the last in their friend group to know about so-and-so. If a B2B decision-maker fails to take action, they might get left behind in marketing trends or miss out on vital customer insights.

Scarcity: Tell Them It’s Limited

Nothing inspires impulse decisions better than limited-edition offers. Urgency is a powerful driver of decision, which is why businesses favor limited-edition products, sales that are for a limited time only, or products exclusive to a store.

State the scarcity behind your offer to make your copy more effective. The email should communicate that the offer is limited to a number of people or available only until a certain date. This motivates them to take action quickly.

Take note that emotional triggers aren’t exclusive to one email campaign. It’s possible to incorporate multiple triggers in one email copy. For instance, you offer a slot for a webinar to the first hundred people who sign up (scarcity) that discuss your best-kept marketing secrets (gain). Whatever emotional trigger you incorporate, make sure it’s clear to convince people to click.

For more strategies on increasing CTRs, get in touch with Waypoint Creative today.